Figure 1.--This CDV portrait shows three unidentified brothers wearing brimless caps. The boys look to be about 3-10 yeras of age. The older boys wear collar butoning suits. Their little brother wears a kilt suit with a different kind of brimless cap. The portrait is undated, but looks like the 1870s to us. The studio was Paul Turner in Chesterfield. Thestudiom seems very basic.

Caps are headwear with partial brims. We are including this brimless headwear basically so as to not over complicate the headwear categiories. We are not sure what to call these caps. They must have had some kind of name in the 19th century when we see them being worn. They look like pillbox caps, but were very plain soft caps. They are similar to smoking caps, but not highly decorated and without tassseles. Unlike smoking caps, they were worn outdoors. They werecalmost always worn with suits. They all seem to be dark colors. We see them in the late 19th century, we see them mostly in the 1870s-80s a time during which pill-box caps were popular. We are not sure of the purpose, but they would keep the head warm. They were nit a partiucularly popular style, but we do see a number of examples in the phtographic record. We have also noted American boys wearing them.

Created: 1:33 PM 11/17/2023
Last updated: 1:33 PM 11/17/2023